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Real’s new managerial shortlist, Cesc to Man City…

Plus, these guys look to be sodding off

And so the sun decided to come out for the weekend, giving rise to a wholly unnecessary carnival atmosphere. Even the most microscopic areas of roadside grass were awash with men and women gently folding salami into their mouths, or Australians torching sausages. Then, by night, the hardened winter smokers were suddenly joined in their outside huddle by healthy types – all presumably looking for a summer snog.

Crazy times.

Still, football carried on as normal, and here’s what we know, thanks to the hard working journos (at the likes of The Mail, The News of the World, The Observer etc), who don’t let a little bit of unexpected warmth get in the way of their never-ending toil…

The robed gentlemen of Man City are lining up an audacious bid for Arsenal’s token Spaniard, Cesc Fabregas. According to the News of the World, they seem convinced that around £50million should do it.

Not only that. Word has it that Fernando Torres, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and Inter’s Mario Balotelli are also in the Man City sights, which will surely come as a rather sobering cock punch to Roque Santa Cruz, who would then presumably find himself operating as around the thirteenth choice striker.

The good news over at Liverpool is that Gillett and Hicks have made the necessary steps towards ending their reign of terror by putting the club up for sale – on the downside (as reported in The Mirror), they want £600million, and look set to stay put until they get it.

And over in sunny Spain – where the eating technique appears to be picnicking all year round – Marca have listed their five candidates to take over at Real Madrid in the summer: Fabio Capello, Rafa Benitez, Jose Mourinho, Roberto Mancini, and Luiz Felipe Scolari.

A hunch suggests that Mourinho and Benitez will go head-to-head on that one.